What Really IS in My DNA?

A couple of weeks ago a friend (on Facebook) made the accusation that my political beliefs must be ingrained in my DNA because they were so “one-sided.” Because I have been pondering the current dilemma of all Americans trying to make sense out of what we see currently happening politically, in particular the polarization of political stances and the subsequent division occurring in families, I want to find a way to “unpolorize” Americans. Well, of course I can’t, but I am willing to think seriously about past methods that clearly don’t work. One of those methods is, sadly, doing research and presenting my findings. Nope. People don’t want that. They tell me I have “drunk the Kool-aid” or am reading fake news. (Even though I don’t depend heavily on news sites for information.)

So when the idea of my political beliefs being ingrained in my DNA came up, I began thinking about that. What did that mean and was it bad or good, or neither?  If my current political viewpoint was ingrained in my DNA, why has it gradually changed over the years? I was brought up with Republican ideals and up until this election, voted Republican. Furthermore, I never had any interest in politics so whatever was in my DNA did not include a lot of political thoughts or opinions.

In pondering further what forms political opinion to the point of it appearing to be in my DNA, I turned to looking at my values. Not just passing values of the moment, but deeply held and carefully, intentionally chosen values. For the past thirty years, I have used a particular model of understanding human behavior which I learned in some PRH* classes I took back in the 80′. This concept was and still is so helpful to me, I have used it in my clinical counseling work.

For the current topic, I focused on what is called the “Inner Being”. The inner being is the place wherein we find our truest self. Children who are brought up in loving homes and who are not deeply wounded in childhood, typically will live by those inner values and carry them into adulthood. Every child is born with a unique inner being, set by their DNA. So if I wanted to learn anything about my DNA, I should look at the traits of myself that I have discovered in my “Inner Being”.

To start with I can look at the common traits that all humans share. Anything that exists within the being is positive, whether it be a trait, a need, or a gift. It is the one place that God carved out in us for him to dwell. (I use the term “God” based on my Christian religious beliefs. Others of different persuasions call it “the Universe” or “the Transcendent.” The closer one gets to the characteristics in the being, the less important the terminology is.) Below are listed just a few examples of what these traits are.

The needs of the inner being are important to understand so they may be differentiated from the neediness of our emotions. Here is an example of what some of those are:

Our parents are given the roll of meeting these needs when we are children. As we grow into adulthood, we must learn to find the ways and the people who can meet them for us and in tern, we can fill those needs for other in a healthy way. There is so much more on this topic, but I want to focus on the parts that relate to my political values.

The history of the world is one continuing story of humanity striving to have the needs of the being met. In particular, fairness, autonomy and freedom are values many have chosen to give their lives for. These are wonderful values to fight for, but as history tells us, often once these are gained, those who take over fall back into the habit of trying to oppress and control the less powerful. These people are not living from the true motives of the inner being. They have become insecure, they have lost focus on the reasons people gave them power and they allow their emotional neediness to take over.

The values of the American system were closely modeled after those we see are a part of the core values of humans. The need to love and be loved and be in harmonious relationship with others is paramount to living according to the inner being.

When it comes to what my values are in relationship to my political beliefs, I see I have some careful pruning to do. If I find myself becoming excessively angry (such that it has the power to change my mood) I can be sure that I am not living in accordance with the values in my being or "DNA". If that happens, I need to check in with my core values to see if any of my rightful needs are being trampled on. Only when I calmly evaluate  the difference can I make an informed choice as to what action to take. Those are things embedded in my DNA. For the record I will list the relevant values I hold that define my current political stance. The only way that I will change my stance is for it to be demonstrated unequivocally that my values are being trampled upon by my political stance. I make the choice here and now to not let that happen.

My Values
Truth — Love — Hope — Respect for others — Peace — Freedom — Honesty  — Compassion — Integrity — Autonomy — Trustworthiness — Fairness — Reliability — Kindness — Positive attitude

It is my belief that the one best chance of fighting against polarization is to listen to and seek to understand the values of others. Understand what needs of theirs are not being met. If we find ourselves trying to force our values onto others, we are likely breaking our own values. I would love for any who dare to share what values they hold in relationship to their political stance.

*PRH is an acronym for Personalite et Relations Humaines meaning Personality and Human Relations in English. Because of the international nature of the organization they have simply chosen “PRH” to represent their name.)